Oklahoma State Highway 74

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State Highway 74
Commissioned:	1927 (as SH-44)[1] Became SH-74 in 1931[2]
Section 1
Length:	91.5 mi (147.3 km)
South end:	SH-7 near Tatums
North end:	Interstate 35 in Goldsby
Section 2
Length:	52.6 mi (84.7 km)
South end:	Interstate 44 in Bethany
North end:	SH-11 west of Deer Creek
Oklahoma State Highways < SH-73 US-75 >

State Highway 74, usually abbreviated as SH-74 or OK-74 (or simply Highway 74) is the numbering of two different highways maintained by the U.S. state of Oklahoma. These highways were once a single major north–south route, connecting Oklahoma City to more rural parts of the state. The original road stretched from SH-7 near Tatums, Oklahoma to SH-11 west of Deer Creek.

Due to encroaching Interstate highways—especially Interstate 35—the middle section of the route through Norman, Moore, and Oklahoma City was decommissioned in 1979 for reasons of redundancy. However, some maps show SH-74 as concurrent with I-35, I-240, and I-44, thus linking the two sections.

The north section of the route is 91.5 miles^[3] (147.25 km) in length, while the southern half is 52.6 miles^[4] (84.65 km) long. This leads to a total length of 144.1 miles (231.9 km).

[edit] Route descriptions

[edit] Southern section

The southern section's northern terminus, at I-35 in Goldsby.

From the southern terminus at SH-7, the southern section of SH-74 goes due north to Elmore City, where it intersects with SH-29. After a couple of turns in the Elmore City area, the highway continues due north to Maysville and SH-19. Still continuing northward, the highway meets the southern terminus of State Highway 24, and continues into Purcell.

In Purcell, SH-74 overlaps US-77 and SH-39. It finally splits off and begins heading west. From here, the highway becomes more hilly and curvy as it heads toward Washington. The road never actually enters Washington, passing just one mile^[5] (1.6 km) north of it. However, Washington is accessible via SH-24, which has its northern terminus at SH-74 as well. (Both termini of SH-24 are at SH-74.)

The highway then returns to a due north course after its intersection with SH-24. It goes through the town of Goldsby and then ends at I-35.

[edit] Northern section

The highway's northern section begins at a stack interchange with Interstate 44 in Bethany. The first part of the northern section is a freeway, called the Lake Hefner Parkway because part of it runs along the east shore of Lake Hefner. The freeway, a major part of the Oklahoma City freeway system, serves the western part of Edmond. At the Kilpatrick Turnpike, the freeway comes to an end, but Highway 74 continues northward on Portland Avenue.

The road passes through the towns of Crescent, Covington, and Garber, Oklahoma as it continues, again on a due north course. Between Covington and Garber the road intersects with US-64/412, which can be used to access Enid, just 14 miles^[6] (22.5 km) to the east.

Twenty miles^[6] (32.2 km) north of US-412, the highway meets US-60 near Lamont. The two roads share a brief concurrency before splitting off again. Eight miles^[6] (12.9 km) north of this, SH-74 intersects with SH-11 between Deer Creek and Numa, Oklahoma. It is at this intersection that the designation ends.

[edit] History

In 1927, a spur from SH-33 to Crescent was created as SH-44.^[1] SH-44 was renumbered to SH-74 in 1931.^[2]. On 1934-12-10, SH-74 was extended southward to Oklahoma City.^[7] The highway was further extended on 1935-09-19 to Norman.^[7] In 1935 and 1936, the highway's alignment through Norman was modified; it was extended from its Main Street terminus to US-77.

Also in 1936, SH-74 began expanding northward. On 1936-08-18, the designation was added to a new section of highway between Crescent and US-64^[8] (now State Highway 164) in Covington.^[7] Nearly a year later, the route was extended southward again. The State Highway Commission lengthened SH-74 through Goldsby and Purcell to SH-19 in Maysville on 1937-07-01.^[7] The section of highway from Covington to US-60 in Lamont was added on 1941-04-14.^[7] On 1945-07-05, it was extended further south to SH-29 in Elmore City (at the time simply named Elmore).^[7]

Throughout the 1950s, State Highway 74 continued to be realigned and extended. Southwest of Norman, it swapped routings with SH-9 on 1954-12-06.^[7] SH-74 was extended twice in 1957, once in each direction: to the north on February 18 and to the south on June 10.^[7] The 1957 lengthening brought SH-74 to its greatest length, with its present-day northern terminus and a southern terminus at State Highway 53 near Milo.

By 1967, I-35 had been constructed through Oklahoma City. On 1967-01-04, SH-74 was split into two sections, with the removal of the section between Goldsby and Norman.^[7] The southern section was truncated on 1974-12-02, bringing the highway to its current southern terminus.^[7] The gap between the two sections of SH-74 was widened on 1975-03-05, when the route was eliminated through Cleveland County and much of Oklahoma City, bringing SH-74 to its present day termini.^[7]

The Lake Hefner Parkway opened in 1992. SH-74 was transferred to the new freeway on 1992-04-06.^[7]

[edit] Spurs

SH-74 has six spur routes (going up to a suffix of F), the highest number of any state highway in Oklahoma. One of these, SH-74A, no longer connects to the parent highway.

I-35 approaching SH-74A (Lindsey Street) in Norman (signs have since been switched over to the new Oklahoma shield design).

• SH-74A (2.7 mi, 4.3 km)^[9] runs along Lindsey Street in Norman, connecting I-35 to US-77. This highway runs straight through the University of Oklahoma campus. It connected to the section of SH-74 which was converted to I-35.
• SH-74B (10.0 mi, 16.1 km)^[10] connects SH-74 in Goldsby to SH-76 south of Blanchard. Cole lies along the middle of this hilly spur.
• SH-74C (11.6 mi, 18.7 km)^[11] connects SH-74 in Crescent to US-77 north of Guthrie.
• SH-74D (2.9 mi, 4.7 km)^[12] connects SH-74 to the unincorporated community of Lovell.
• SH-74E (5 mi, 8.1 km)^[13] goes from SH-51 north to Marshall, and then it goes east and ends at SH-74. This spur was commissioned on 1951-08-06.^[7]
• SH-74F (8.0 mi, 12.9 km)^[14] goes from SH-74 west to Cashion, and then goes north to SH-33.
• Historically, Green Avenue on the north side of Purcell from SH-74 to I-35 was designated SH-74G.^[15][16] However, this designation was removed, and is currently signed as To NORTH I-35.

[edit] Junction list

[edit] Southern section

County	Location	Mile[4]	Roads intersected	Notes
Carter		0.0	SH-7	Southern section's northern terminus
Garvin	Elmore City	9.5	SH-29
	Maysville	23.1	SH-19
		25.8	SH-24	Southern terminus of SH-24, junction lies on Garvin/McClain county line
McClain		29.8	SH-59
	Purcell	35.1	I-35	I-35 Exit 91
		35.5	US-77 (Weedn Blvd.)
		36.4	SH-39
		37.4	US-77/SH-39 (Washington St.)
		39.0[16]	I-35
	Goldsby	47.1	SH-24	Northern terminus of SH-24
		49.1	SH-74B (Cottonwood Rd.)	Eastern terminus of SH-74B
		52.6	I-35	Southern section's northern terminus

[edit] Northern section

County	Location	Mile[3]	Roads intersected	Notes
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	0.0	I-44/SH-66	Northern section's northern terminus; begin Lake Hefner Parkway (freeway)
		1.1	SH-3/3A (N.W. Expy.)
		6.8	Kilpatrick Tpk.	Freeway ends
Logan		20.1	SH-74F	Eastern terminus of SH-74F
		25.1	SH-33
	Crescent	31.1	SH-74C	Western terminus of SH-74C
		38.2	SH-74D	Eastern terminus of SH-74D
		42.3	SH-51
		45.3	SH-74E
Garfield	Covington	55.3	SH-164	Western terminus of SH-164
	Garber	61.8	US-64/US-412	Diamond interchange
		61.8	SH-15	SH-15 begins concurrent with SH-74
		71.3	SH-15
Grant		81.5	US-60
	Lamont	83.4	US-60
		91.5	SH-11	Northern section's northern terminus

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• SH-74's north section at Roadklahoma
• SH-74's south section at Roadklahoma